Newt Gingrich: We Need a President, Not an Athlete

AP

NEW ORLEANS -- Newt Gingrich made a rock star's entrance at the Southern Republican Leadership Conference Thursday night, entering to a standing ovation as the song "Eye of the Tiger" blared over the speakers and lights shined out over the crowd.

When Gingrich eventually got to the podium, he delivered a self-assured address peppered with historical allusions. Democrats in Washington, he said, had put together a "perfect unrepresentative left-wing machine dedicated to a secular socialist future."

Mr. Obama is "the most radical president in American history," Gingrich said. "He has said, 'I run a machine, I own Washington, and there is nothing you can do about it.'"

"What we need is a president, not an athlete," Gingrich said during a question and answer period after his speech. He added: "Shooting three point shots may be clever, but it doesn't put anybody to work."

Gingrich discussed passage of the health care bill, saying the "decisive" election of Sen. Scott Brown sent a message that Democrats decided to ignore in order to "ram through" the bill against the wishes of the American people.

"The longer Obama talks the less the American people believe him," Gingrich said, citing the decline in poll numbers for the health care bill as the president kept trying to sell it to the public.

Gingrich said that when Republicans take back the House and Senate in the midterm elections they should "refuse to fund" the administration's proposals, drawing huge applause from the crowd.

Add a Republican president, he said, and the goal should be to "repeal every radical bill" passed by the current administration.

Gingrich, a potential 2012 Republican presidential candidate, stressed his conception of the current administration as part of "secular, socialist machine."

"On every front," he said, "they're increasing government" and trying to "micromanage our lives," raise taxes, increase government power and strip citizens of their power. 

"This is a fundamental fight over the core definition of America," Gingrich said. He told the crowd they should be talking about culture, not politics. "The more we make this a choice about the nature of America, the weaker they are," he said.

Gingrich told a story about the Polish people when they were resisting communism, who he said came up with the slogan, "two plus two equals four," taking it from the writings of Albert Camus and George Orwell. He said the slogan grew from the fact that the authorities can't handle the truth, tying it to what he suggested were nonsensical numbers offered by Democrats about the health care bill.

"There are more of us than there are of the government," the former House speaker said, midway through his story about Polish resistance to communism. "So why are we afraid of them?"

Asked if he would run for president, he said he would make a decision in February 2011. He said for the moment it was important for Republicans to "get out and campaign this year to win this year's election."

The left, Gingrich said, wants "to be dishonest about who we are" and cast Republicans as "the party of no."

He said the GOP needs to be the party of yes -- by saying yes to a balanced budget through controlled spending, more jobs through tax cuts, reforming government, stopping people from stealing from Medicaid and Medicare, spending more on getting soldiers better equipment, and "the right kind of health reform" and energy plan.

"My point is, there are many things that we can say yes to, and if we would discipline ourselves to start off every conversation with...'let me tell you what I'm for,'" Gingrich said, Republicans will be on the right track.

Gingrich predicted that "this administration is going to be a catastrophic failure," deeming it the worst since Herbert Hoover from an economic perspective. He pushed for small business tax cuts over government spending,

"Quite frankly, I'm tired of finding new ways to help people who aren't working, I want to find new ways to help people who are working," he said.

Gingrich said Americans will choose Republicans in the coming elections if Republicans can frame the discussion between what they offer and what is offered by Democrats. He said President Obama had helped set the stage for a comeback with his "incompetence."

The debate should be framed, he said, not as "Obama vs. Anti-Obama, but America vs. a secular socialist machine."

More Coverage from the Southern Republican Leadership Conference:

Sarah Palin Fires Back at Obama, Mocks His "Experience" on Nuclear Issues
Jindal Jokes RNC Staffers Should Avoid Bourbon Street
Is This How Straw Polls are won?
"Evangelicals for Mitt" Step Into Romney Vacuum
Liz Cheney: Obama Putting America on Path to Decline
All Hotsheet Coverage of the SRLC

[GR8Sted]

Gingrich IS a MORAL JOKE. Most thinking Americans can see right through his fkaming racism!!!
Maybe President Obama should resort to one of those LILY WHITE sports. Say for example putting on the White House green, bowling, HORSEBACK RIDING or MOUNTAIN BIKING!!!
He would try CLEARING BRUISH on his ranch but there are no ranches and little brush in the inner city.

[webbsight]

Again, I will reiterate my feeling that there is a escalating wave of racism in America today. The perpetrators are going to lose control of it. Fox News, Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh, Tancredo, and the list goes on, all of them know the audience they speak to and the potential gain they receive with their rhetoric. Obviously, people are going to lie. Blacks can't afford to be naive. So it is okay that whites think this is a dead horse. I sympathize with this sentiment. I wish it was gone. I also recognize a lot of white people's sincerity in trying to identify racism and purge it from our affairs. However, the fact remains it is here and a lot of people will lie about this. In addition, just the mere fact that so many refer to blacks in generalities and make statements solely to denigrate black people all the time in these forums should be enough for those of you on the fence. I read between the lines and can interpret some of the guilt white people feel. Naturally, when your ancestry espoused such hatred and hypocrisy its a cause for concern and regret. The way you deal with those feelings isn't denial and it certainly isn't pushing back at black people who have no choice but to be hyper-sensitive toward it, and yes we will be mistaken at times. I'd rather be safe then sorry, because when your not ready for it it is the absolute worse feeling. That feeling of shame when you know you have nothing to be ashamed of is memorable trust me. I would just suggest people should see for themselves what I'm talking about. Everything black is under fire whether it be the NAACP, Black History month, Black Colleges, ..etc, people are just talking sh##t for no apparent reason. In the meantime, the usual narrative is that blacks want to stir the pot and feel entitled. Furthermore, even the darn healthcare bill debate gets twisted into some sort of take from whitey and give to blacks like Obama is Robin Hood just as a fear narrative to fire up conservatives. The scapegoat thing is getting old people. All of this is so far from the truth. The only people affected by all this is black people. White people can just blow off steam talk their hate and go about there business. The mere volume of it potentially gets folks going though. As a result, when your black you see it spill over into your everyday life sometimes subtle sometimes blatant. Were not the one's in these forums stirring up the hate and profiling and stereotyping. No other race accept whites, at least noticeably, even speaks about race often in these forums so if were objective it becomes clear how this is being instigated.The fact is if everyone just shows concern toward the consequences of the lies and exaggerations at the expense of everyone maybe we can contain this hate and marginalize it as it should be.

[GR8Sted]

The racism wave is not esclating. It is more like coming out of the closet.

[MJJR1]

Mr. Gingrich was forced out of power by his own party because of his ultra conservative views. His Contract "On" America represented his views, not those of the majority of Americans. The morally conscience Gingrich went so far as to ask his wife for a divorce while she was in a hospital, receiving treatment for cancer so he could marry his mistress. We've heard it all before. Mr. Gingrich, you need not apply for the job of president. Please continue to concentrate your efforts elsewhere, wherever that is.

[GR8Sted]

Why do Americans use smarmy, innocuous terms when referrin to the far right, lunatic fringe. For example terms such as ultra conservative, arch conservative, hard conservatives to list just three.
These terms are all euphenisims for REACTIONARIES. The political group driving all the right wing nut hate, Obamacare, death panels, birthers, socialist, etc.
It is being sponsored mostly by those who feel they are losing their place of prominence and preminence, OLD WHITE GUYS!
And guess what, I am an old, white guy, age 63. So there.

[RainyDayInterns]

More from the "G NO P"...let us get this straight... he saying the President is "too healthy and vigorous"? Not everybody can be Cheney.

[RainyDayInterns]

So...some old fat white guy is saying that...just what is he saying?

[ab5987]

Newt is saying that Obama is taking us down a European style Socialist path and that this is a mistake for the USA. The hook of this article was in the headline containing the word 'athlete', and you swallowed. Don't think that the author Brian didn't predict your response, and many of the other Liberals here. Baaaaa!

[webbsight]

We need a President not an "athlete". Hmmm, the black in me isn't convinced Gingrich isn't dropping subtleties we know all too well. I mean Obama after all didn't play sports in college. He smokes. Now all of a sudden he's an athlete? I guess we all are. It is in the genes right? You gotta like the "call to arms" rhetoric he uses like America is at war. Infiltrated by this double-agent with a Socialist agenda and a fake birth certificate. I an dumbfounded how naive his white audience becomes. Where was this fear in government when Bush manipulated a need to go to war and next thing we know Cheney gets Haliburton a no bid contract designation. I understand, there white so that made it okay to increase the deficit, but the manipulating secretive style of Bush was accepted. Here we have a President that tell you everything he's doing and thinking about doing and all of a sudden white folks are scared of "The Man". Are we kidding? This environment is evil. What we have is a bunch of white people who are in denial about there irrational feelings of anxiety they didn't anticipate when we elected are black president. Naturally, all the opportunists were going to push us over the edge. Well your gonna be responsible for the mess if he gets usurped in all the racism you all are so interested in instigating. Here's a man who graduated with honors from Harvard Law School and he's referred to as an athlete? Why can we debate the issues on their merit Newt? We know all too well. Let's scare white people. What's this all say about the majority that voted for him. Did he fool us all for two years running for President? Is this the first time a Socialist has infiltrated one of our political parties.Is he gonna all of a sudden declare he's Muslim? So what your really saying is the majority of voters elected a fraud? You folks that are buying all this are just simply bad people who don't believe in this country and its values. Why more of you don't just come out of your closet and admit your if not racist a little more queasy then you would be if the President was a product of what FOX calls the community of "traditional Americans." Reasonable people need to wake up. All the white people that are in denial about racism telling everybody who will listen we need not worry need to look at whats happening in the white community and come to grips with it before it engulfs us and distracts this country from recovery.

[peregrine3]

tres bien

[ab5987]

We conservatives don't care that Obama is half black, just that his policies are counter to all our shared interests. In the age of Obama, Michael Steele, Opra, Tiger, Danzel, Venus and Serena, etc, your charges of racism ring hollow and desperate. Sadly, its just another gambit from the Liberal playbook; and that card has been played a few too many times to mean anything. Bringing up race allows you to avoid the really difficult discussions about economics and foreign relations, which I notice you avoid mentioning in your lengthy comment.

Personally, I think your talking about the 'black in you' is just the kind of comment we can all do without.

[gotoran]

Gingrich had his chance with his Contract On America.
He flopped. He's the disease, and the Democrats are the cure. If Democrats voted in the numbers that Republicans vote, the GOP wouldn't regain office until the year 2060 at the earliest.

[ab5987]

Gingrich made good on his Contract With America, if you can remember. It brought us the first budget surplus in many years.

[GR8Sted]

More like "Contract ON America."

[hag1]

Responding to Newt saying that we don't need an athelete, we need a president.
Isn't that what all of the fat out of shape guys say?

[aubfmet]

Newt's surrounded by so many glass windows that he should be in hiding.

[moekatkiller]

I am glad to see that CBS is actually covering these speeches without putting any kind of interpretation of their own on what is transpiring. It makes me want to take a look at the site now and not just blow it off because I love stations that state what is transpiring and not giving their own slant. Koodoos to CBS for once. I know I'll stop back to get a glance more often if you are up front and reasonable on your reporting

[ab5987]

Other than the misleading headline, of course. I don't think that Obama's athletic demonstrations of late were the core of his comments.